


strawberry shortcake

by hrlena



Series: lilacs in your mind all the time [2]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Robin: Son of Batman (Comics)
Genre: Damian Wayne Feels, Damian Wayne Needs a Hug, Damian Wayne-centric, Gen, no beta we die like jason todd
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-02-25 14:14:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22497430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hrlena/pseuds/hrlena
Summary: Damian is not a native English speaker. Although he tries his best, sometimes he messes up and forgets simple and easy words. And even, sometimes, he just can't understand a text or a document. His family tries to help him every time.
Relationships: Bat Family & Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne
Series: lilacs in your mind all the time [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1584097
Comments: 37
Kudos: 498





	1. carrots

**Author's Note:**

> heyy everyone
> 
> so this is part of the series lilacs  
> this fanfic is very sweet, there may be some hard and kinda sad chapters but at all it's comforting and pretty
> 
> I am making another part of the series very angst and bad and sad but just wait
> 
> hope you all enjoy

Dick was trying his best to build a solid trustful friendship with Damian. It was hard, very hard. The boy never talked about anything and just answered his questions with small words, nothing beyond the truth. Very direct, always serious.

But surely it wouldn’t stop Dick.

They were eating, just the two of them, on the manor’s kitchen. It really wasn’t that rare those moments. Bruce used to skip dinner to work or for patrol. Alfred used to eat earlier than everyone. Jason was out, he almost never visited the manor, mainly on meals, and Tim was out with the Titans.

Just the two of them.

Dick and Damian.

He smiled. That was alright. The only time they had talked was when Dick asked him lots of random things, but he got happy for the replies. It seemed like progress.

“So how was your day?”, he started.

Damian raised his eyes to look at him. Bright green. Al Ghul.

“Fine.”

“Oh. That’s good.”, Dick replied. “What did you have for lunch?”

“Cucumber, rice and…”, Damian frowned. He looked down. “I…”

Dick got worried for just a few seconds. “What happened?”

“I can’t remember the word.”

Dick gave him a large smile. That was sweet. Very, very sweet. Not being perfect. Not trying to be perfect. Forgetting words, like a ten-year-old immigrant little boy.

“Well, I can help. Just give me some clues.”

Damian bit his lip.

“Orange.”

“Orange? Like the fruit?”

“Yes but no. Orange like the color.”

“Oh”, Dick smiled.

“The word seems like ‘rabbit’.”

“Rabbit? Oh my God. For lunch?”, Dick laughed. Suddenly, he got worried Damian would feel bad for his laugh. Like he was a joke, or mistaken. He got a relief when Damian smiled.

“It was a vegetable. Orange vegetable.”

“Pumpkin?”

“No.”

“Carrot?”

“Yes. Carrot. I had carrots.”, Damian said.

“Well, that’s nice, Dami.”, Dick said, holding a wish to rub the kid’s hair.


	2. rooftop

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this is today’s chapter
> 
> Damian is Robin and Jason is Red Hood

There was silence. Silence like the moment before a hurricane. Then, like a tricky pass, thunders of bullets. Sounds that made Gotham look like Hell.

  
Robin was, in a cautious way, moving from spots, trying to dodge and immobilize some shooters. Batman was nowhere to be seen, unfortunately trapped on inside the building. He had support, but they were spread over the block. The only one next to him was Red Hood.

  
When he landed on a dumpster, Jason fell next to him, laughing.

  
“Yeah, this one is being a very generous night.”, he had said.

  
“Don’t stop. Keep moving.”, Damian almost screamed to him, getting up.

  
“I will.”

  
Robin turned to him, his eyes giving the impression of danger under the domino mask.

  
“We have to make a way inside the building. And there’s no entrance but the...”, he suddenly stopped.

  
“The front door?”

  
“No! It’s the...”, Damian gestured, nervous. “That place!”, he tried to point.

  
“The seventh floor?”

  
“No! The thing on the top of the building!”

  
“The heliport?”

  
“No! No, I can’t remember, what the hell was that name?”

  
“The last floor?”

  
“Above the last floor!”

  
“Well, sorry, buddy, but we have no time to play.”

  
“I’m not playing! It’s _alsath_!”

  
“So sorry, can’t remember more words in Arabic than ‘Praise our Lord Al Ghul’.”

  
“It’s not that hard, I can’t remember!”, Robin looked like almost collapsing.

  
“Rooftop?”

  
“Yes! Yes, yes! Rooftop! We have to go to the rooftop!”

  
“Of course we do.”, Red Hood said.

  
“And you should study a little bit more Arabic. It’s unforgivable forgetting such an important language.”, Damian said, walking in front of him.

  
“Sure it is.”, Jason said, following.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyy
> 
> so there are going to be more chapters about Jason/Damian relationship because I adore the fact that they both share an Arabic past
> 
> and I am going to explore more the break of culture Damian is in, maybe I’ll give one more fanfic to the series about the food or habits part
> 
> thanks for reading and for the kudos!
> 
> also, I wanted to say that I really don’t know if “rooftop” translates to “ealaa alsath”, that’s what Google Translator told me
> 
> if it’s wrong, please correct me


	3. purport

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyy guys  
> everyone ok?  
> so sorry for the delay  
> now I'm quarantined so I guess there are going to be new chapter everyday!  
> Also, I'm writing a quarantine fic for the batfamily
> 
> thanks everyone for the kudos and comments <3  
> I'm very glad it's working on

Tim was ok. He really was. Nothing abnormal was happening. All those ugly and weird villains were trying to escape, Wayne Enterprises was a living machine, producing all the kinds of useless documents and bills, Bruce was out there, trying to save someone’s life as a giant bat, and College was every passing day closer.

It was fine. His common chaos.

He was in the batcave, next to Damian. Their relation was still, well, complicated. Neither of them tried to start any talk, and it wasn’t like they really wanted. They were going fine, he could guess. Alright, maybe they were going pretty bad, but it didn’t really matter.

“Can you please read this for me and sum up?”, he asked. It was a document he had just received from one of the WE departments. There were five pages, and Tim was busy passing through some Batman data. 

Damian took them and started reading. 

Tim came back to work.

Twenty minutes went by. Tim looked at him.

The kid was frowning to the fourth page.

“What?”, Tim asked.

“Purport”, Damian said undertone.

“Purport?”

“I don’t know what this means.”

“Purport?”

“Yes.”

“Well, purport is a synonym for meaning.”

Damian didn’t answer, and Tim thought that he didn’t really need to. 

That was fine.

Maybe they were going to be ok one day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and please if anything is wrong or you just don't agree, let me know
> 
> I'm trying my best


	4. posthumous

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy fourth of march
> 
> I guess it's someone's birthday anywhere out there

A calm morning in the manor. The sound of birds vibrated through the windows, some butterflies landed on the glass. Kitchens utensils made of steel pending on the counter, where Damian was seated, close to Alfred, walking holding boiling oils, to make everything perfect as always. 

They were the first to wake up, but there weren’t many people that day. Only him, Alfred and Bruce sharing the house. 

The radio was on, at a very low volume. Damian was listening, while eating a bowl of cereal.

Nothing new, nothing that really mattered. 

“With his posthumous memoirs…”, the woman on the radio said in a lively voice.

“Posthumous”, Damian repeated slowly.

“You were saying?”, Alfred asked, unconcerned.

“Nothing.”, he answered quickly, with bright and wild eyes.

The silence remained for almost four minutes.

“Actually,” Damian started, “what does ‘posthumous’ mean?”

“‘Posthumous’ is an adjective which describes an event happening after someone’s death.”, Alfred said, kind of reciting.

“Thank you, Pennyworth.”

“You are welcome.”

Alfred kept his look on the boy for just some seconds more, watching his very hair and very tiny hands. He felt some complacency.

“You can ask me about any term or word you don’t understand at first. English can be a confusing language.”

Damian raise his eyes, shining green. 

“I am thankful for that.”

“Any time.”, Alfred responded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for the comments and for the kudos <3
> 
> probably I'll update the series later today with the work I've been wishing to write so much


	5. resemblance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey hey heyyyy  
> I hope to update the series with a new fanfic soon

They were walking in the Manor’s garden. Everything was too pretty that day. The landscape, the sunset, the lilac, pink and blue coloring the sky. Those dark green threes there in the end.

Dick was already used to Damian, they had a comforting relationship. Damian was a good kid, Dick used to think, because he was. Maybe sometimes he could be too arrogant, or he would look to people with hard and bright green eyes, almost as a thread. 

Dick smiled. Damian could look a lot like a softer version of Ra’s when he wanted. But he would never stop looking as a lonely child, full of traumas caused by his crazy mother, and carrying a package of memories from the Middle East.

-Do you miss there? -Dick asked, suddenly.

-Where? 

-Middle East. 

Damian looked a little confused, looking around, his eyes rolling and his mouth half-opened. 

-Sometimes more than the others.

-What do you miss there the most?

-I don’t know, there is nothing to miss from a torture center. -Damian said kind of exasperated. -It’s just that… you get used to something. My mother’s austere eyes, fighting till death, my cousin, and the sand. It’s different. I don’t know if it’s missing.

Dick didn’t answer.

-I guess, -Damian continued after a while. -I miss a garden there used to be there. A garden of lilacs.

-Who in the League would keep a garden of lilacs? -Dick laughed.

-A man who didn’t love anything.

-How can someone who doesn’t love anything keep flowers?

Damian shrugged.

-He was not a nice man. -he completed, quietly.

Dick looked at him suspiciously. 

-What had he done to you?

Damian smiled slightly.

-What? -Dick asked.

-Nothing. It’s just… one day I’ll be able to talk openly about everything that happened to me, ok? Not today. 

-Alright. -Dick said, cautious. 

-You would like there. It was very hot and the sunset was even more colorful than here. The sand would feel like burning, but at the same time warm. Then, in the night, there would be too much stars in the sky, you could almost see galaxies.

Dick smiled brightly. 

-What? -Damian asked.

-You sound like you miss there a lot.

-It’s just… the lack of resemblance. 

-Yes… I can imagine.

-Funny, right?

-What?

-I do use the word “resemblance” even I don’t know exactly what it means.

Dick laughed. 

-It means “similarity”, two things that look alike. 

-I could imagine. -Damian smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> I am going to update this everyday
> 
> the chapters are all going to be short
> 
> this is an idea I got in the shower, I thought it would be nice


End file.
